The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-15

national Scientific Series. Microbe is
the French name for bacteria, .the
word chosen by English and German
scientists to designate the minute or.
ganisms, once thought to be animal but
known to be vegetable in their nature,
which are believed to be the cause of all
infectious and contagious epidemics, of
pneumonia, consumption and other dis
eases not supposed to belong to either of
those classes and the active agents of
putrefaction and many other phenomena
of life and decay. The work is devoted
to explanation of the theory of Pasteur
and description of his methods of cul-
ture of microbes and incubation for
many complaints.
We give extracts from this work
of Palatka as showing the necessity for
a good sewerage system and an abun-
dant supply of pure water for drinking
and cooking purposes. Upon the ques-
ton of sewerage the author says:
The system of directing everything to
piled to towns, and which has encountered
much opposition, is certainly excellent
when properly understood and applied.
The cesspools, as well as the cemeteries,
ought to be as remote as possible from
the houses of the living. 1t is as much
opposed to public health to retain cess
pools which are gradually filled in the
course of years, in the midst of town,
as to have intramural cemeteries. Every
thing should be carried off by the sewer,
provided there is sufficient flow of
water to take all solid matters with it
and completely cover them. These are
deposited in places assigned for them
which must necessarily be very remote
from thickly populated places. When
these matters are then spread over a
large surface to dry in the air, the OXy-
gen becomes, as Pasteur has said, the
great purifier of microbes.
In Paris, some of the sewage water of
the great main sewer is diverted ON to
the peninsula of Gennevilliers, and it is
then directed into cutters to serve as a
manure for market gardens. After ill
tering through the cultivated plots the
water flows off in limpid stream. Cor
nillean, whose medical practice is at
Gennevilliers, has recently issued a re-
port, showing plainly that the sewage is
but a slight source of danger to the in
habitants of the peninsula. During the
serious outbreak of typhoid fever which
occurred in Paris in 1882, there were
only two typhoid cases in the whole
commune, and these cases were import
ed from Paris.
Upon the question of water supply.
the comparative wholesomeness of run
ming water and water from wells and
thar mora IN, IaSa otaVpapt on,,r.ao Tho
author says:
The researches carried on by Miguel
for some years at the observatory of
MOntsouris, at the Pantheon, and in
other parts of Paris, teach us that living
phere than had been generally supposed.
We have already said that air is the
great purifier of microbes. which it de
stroys by dessication. Even in the
infection of wounds, it is probable that
the liquids and linen formerly employed
for dressing, transported the microbes
in greater numbers than the air, however
charged it might be with these organ
isms in the neighborhoOd of hospital.
In the water which supplies large
towns, whether furnished from wells or
streams, large number of microbes.
are, however, found in a state of perfect
vitality. This is quite natural. since we
know that these plants cannot exist.
without moisture. and they find in such
water the organic matter which nour-
ishes them The waters receive them
by the sewers which discharge into
them, the wells by infiltratiOn of the
soil, and thus in times of epidemic. the
oftyphoid fever and of cholera
are always to be found in running or
stagnant waters which therefore be-
come the vehicles of infectious diseases.
Well water, owing to its stagnant ma
ture, and to the infiltratjOn to which it is
liable from cesspOOls which are often
leaky, is more dangerous than running
water. About two years ago, an epidemic
of typhoid fever, which occurred in one
quarter of Anglers, was stopped by intro
ducing a supply of water from the Loire;
up to that time well water had been ex-
in use.
After showing that the poison in well
water is not at all neutralized by the
process of baking bread, into which wa
ter enters as one-half the loaf; that the
microbes are not destroyed by a tempera-
ture of less than us to 1861 whereas the
internal temperature of the loaf seldom
rises to 100, the author says:
Well water must, therefore. be gener-
ally condemned, both for drinking pur-
poses and for the making of bread.
The friend who drew our attention to
these words makes a valuable suggestion
rs to the outlet of the contemplated sew
srage system which should be carefully
weighed. He says:
Why would it not be best to carry the
mt Iaf Tf th1 I,u- tv,r, l.
'onville, Tampa and Key West Railroad
with an open ditch and, as the city
grows, continue it down to Rice Creek,
rather than to turn the sewers into the
liver where the tides and high winds
would pollute the whole river front of
he city?
The practice of turning the sewage
IF = city into the waters in its immediate
'front.' has prevailed in the past. As
titles grow it has been found a danger
BUS and inconvenient plan, especially
m towns situated on tidal waters.
Such cities as London and Chi
cago have been put to great
expense to remedy the system
where, in the case of Chicago, at least,
an early attention to the danger would
have saved great expense. The tides
carry off the sewage as they ebb but
bring it back as they flow. The water
becomes full of putrid matter which the
winds throw up from the shore to be
come a source of disease as well as dis
If not carried into some creek
the sewage should be emptied into the
river at some distance below the city
and at some point where it will flow into
the main body of the stream
Palatka is small now but in proportion
to the population of the State it is con-
town, which is destined to grow